“There is still great danger to Galveston from sickness and pestilence. The streets are filled with sediment from the Gulf and bay, and this is beginning to smell almost as bad as the dead bodies. Because of the immense heaps of wreckage it will be impossible to flood the streets for weeks to come, even if there were plenty of water.”
BURYING THE VICTIMS IN TRENCHES.
Four days after the disaster the following account was an accurate picture of the condition of Galveston: This evening the committees in charge of clearing up the city, caring for the destitute and arranging for transportation feel much encouraged. Something like order has been brought out of chaos. There is organized effort and the day’s work has been big. It was impossible to handle the dead bodies of human beings or the carcasses of animals to get them to sea, because of putrefaction. Hundreds were buried in trenches and many were cremated. It was necessary to handle fire with great caution, as there is no water supply as yet.
The city is not suffering much for drinking water, but water is needed in the mains, that fire may be controlled. The water has been flowing steadily from the Alta Loma supply pipe into the tank. Unfortunately there was no connection from the rig tank to the mains, except through the pumps, and it is impossible to get the water through by that route. Alderman McMaster, who has been directing the work to-day, is getting out the connection from the pumps to the mains and is making a connection from rig tank to mains.
Some of the large pipe needed was not available, but carpenters are making a wooden section which will stand the slight pressures. It is expected that water will be turned into the mains from the rig tank before morning. This will give a supply in yard hydrants and fill plugs from which the steamers can work. The men at work on the pumps and pipes are well along with their work, but the boilermakers are not so far along. Mr. McMaster thinks the pumps can be started by to-morrow, and that they will give the usual pressure in the mains.
VISITORS DO NOBLE WORK.
In addition to the arrangements made for handling people from here to Texas City and thence via the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad to Houston, the prospect is that the Southern Pacific will be ready for passengers within the next few days. Mr. W. S. Keenan, general passenger agent of the Santa Fe, said this evening that he expected that their track would be completed to both ends of the bridges by to-morrow evening. The company has chartered three boats and will take passengers by train from Galveston to the bridge and there transfer by boat to the mainland.
A large number of people reached here to-day from Houston and other points. Some of them came to lend helping hands, and are doing noble work; others came to look for relatives. But there are many who come out of sheer curiosity and who do nothing but eat provisions and drink the water. They are taking up room in the boats returning to mainland which women and children ought to have. People who are not coming to help, or on other urgent missions, ought to remain away; sightseers are not wanted, and those who have no higher purpose in coming will do Galveston the greatest service within their power by staying away.
The police and soldiers have orders not to permit the landing of strangers, and the order is being carried out as far as possible. The committee on transportation purposes to see that women and children get a chance to leave here first, and able-bodied men will not be permitted to leave during the first few days. If sightseers come anyway they will find it difficult to get in and still more difficult to get out of the city.
Mayor Jones received a telegram to-day from President McKinley, expressing his sorrow that Texas had been visited by such a dreadful calamity, and advising that he had instructed the Secretary of War to render all the assistance possible.